Careful, Alice
by rainbow cupcake
Summary: When the eyepots are swarming all around you, it's hard to avoid injury. Madness Returns fic, human!Cheshire/Alice.


So ever since Madness Returns came out, I've been writing and drawing TONS of stuff for it XD

This is set in...I believe it's the Hatter's factory? The room with all the eyepots and the giant teacups pouring.

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><p>She spun around so gracefully, her blade gleaming from the blood splattered across its surface. As the last eyepot fell to the ground dead, she slowed to a halt, regaining her breath.<p>

Cheshire chuckled at her, "Care for some tea, love?"

"After that encounter? I'd rather eat paste."

He strode over to her, butting his head into her shoulder, indicating she could lean on him.

"Thank you...Cheshire..."

He walked her over to a slight ledge, helping her sit. Alice flinched as she moved, one of the eyepots having struck her quite viciously across her back when she was turning to attack her other foes.

"Alice, what's wrong?"

She clenched her teeth as the fabric of her dress brushed across the fresh wound.

"N-nothing."

He moved around to stand behind her, and paused for a moment, concentrating hard, feeling a rush of energy course through his veins, letting it drift through his every cell, pulling him, changing him. Cheshire shuddered, disliking the adjustment of limbs. He knelt next to Alice, ears twitching from under tufty near-black hair.

"Hold still, Alice, this may sting a bit..."

She resisted the urge to jump as she felt decidedly_ human_ hands running across her back, pulling away the torn material from the bloodied area.  
>Alice hissed in pain as Cheshire ran a finger over the gash.<p>

"Really dear, you must be more _careful_."

"Says you, I'm the one that actually does that fighting around he-AH! Watch your claws, blasted cat..."

He grinned, purring low in his throat, and leaned forward to nip at Alice's neck, making her gasp.

"Quiet, darling. You don't know what the poisons of this world can do, and if you manage to get infected, you could die. And we don't want that, now do we."

Alice closed her eyes, making sure all of her hair was pulled away from her back.

"Honestly, some days I can't figure out if you're trying to help me or antagonize me."

Cheshire smirked, "Some days it's a little bit of both. You just get riled up so easily, it's a treat to watch."

"I thought you intended to heal me, not taunt me. Or was I mistaken?"

He pressed a kiss to where Alice's shoulder blade was concealed under her dress, and set to work, lapping at the cut with his sandpapery tongue, trying to rid the area of blood, smiling each time Alice shuddered from the sensation of his tongue running across her skin. When he was satisfied, he reached down, cutting away the ribbons from the back of her dress and tying them around her chest as an awkward sort of tourniquet. Cheshire stood, holding out his hand to help Alice up, smiling as she dusted herself off.

"Feel any better?"

She simply stared at him, taking in his new form, slightly unsure of what to say. His ears twitched as he spoke, setting his hair awry.

"I'm surprised you never noticed me in your wanderings of London's streets, Alice. I've been keeping an eye on you that way, mingling with the dirty crowds. They all just saw me as an off-skinned tattooed hooligan."

"But how did you hide...didn't anyone ask..."

He laughed and twitched his ears again.

"These? Hidden with a little bit of vanishing magic. Perfect disguise."

Cheshire stepped toward Alice and took her hands gently, holding her in place.

"I saw how they treated you at Rutledge's, and I wished and wished that I could come and save you, but that just couldn't be done. We had to wait until you were ready to be saved."

Alice slipped one of her hands out of his and reached up to brush her hand across his face, running a thumb over his tattooed cheek, smiling as he purred again, leaning slightly into her touch.  
>He reached up with his own free hand, caressing her face, watching as she closed her eyes, feeling safe around him. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, then her eyelids, the tip of her little pointed nose, her chin. Cheshire paused then, waiting for Alice to open her eyes.<br>She blinked them open in confusion, green orbs radiating her own unique spark.

"Cheshire, what's the matter?"

He brushed a thumb across her lips slowly, observing how they were slightly chapped from lack of care.  
>With a sigh, the grey-skinned man leaned in and pressed their lips together, tucking his hand under her chin, keeping her there without force. After a short time they drew apart, and Alice stared up at him, the cat being much taller than she was, with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. She slid her arms around his shoulder shyly and stood on her tiptoes, drawing him back into another kiss.<br>Cheshire tugged her close, wrapping his arms around her, but paused when she let out a gasp of pain. He stepped back and turned her around, examining her wound from earlier with concern. The temporary bandage seemed to be holding up, but Alice would definitely need more professional medical care than a few cat licks and some ribbon scraps.  
>In one swift movement he scooped her up into his arms, and smiled as she instinctively wrapped her arm around his shoulders.<p>

"This may feel a little odd, as you're not accustomed to vanishing as I do."

She tightened her grip on him, nodding.

"Well, off we go~"

And he closed his eyes, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and slowly but surely, the two of them faded away out of sight.

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><p>I enjoy writing them...may do it more :)<p> 


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